I'm Here For You
by Angel who can't fly
Summary: Eight years later, Gaea once again faces another disaster. And even though her memory of Gaea is slowly slipping, through a dream, she still senses that Van is calling her. Can Hitomi once again help save Gaea to stop another disaster?
1. It's been ages

**I'm Here for You**

**Disclaimer: _I sit down on a chair, my legs crossed as I see a mysterious man sit on the chair across me._**

**Mystery Man: Do you own Escaflowne?**

**Me: Of course not! I can't pilot Escaflowne! I don't even know how to pilot a Guymelef, more so Escaflowne.**

**Mystery Man: No, no! I mean the story!**

**Me: What story?**

**Mystery Man (annoyed): _The Vision of Escaflowne!!! _**

**Me: I don't have visions! I'm Joe Average… wait… I'm a girl…**

**Mystery Man (Throws papers in the air): I give up!**

**I do not own Escaflowne or any of the characters in it **

**It was kind of hard to imagine them 8 years from now, but I managed. It's my first story ever. Reviews welcome!**

* * *

**Chapter One: It's been ages…**

**It was a total disaster. **

**There hasn't been a disaster like this since Dornkirk and Zaibach around eight years ago. **

**He was successful in bringing Fanelia back up again, making it the place it used to be. He started to actually _be_ a king to his people. Even after he thought that it was hopeless when it was destroyed by Zaibach. His brother's dream was coming true.**

**But with this disaster, all he could do now was mope like a sad rat that lost its cheese. _Some king I am now_, he thought. **

**All this moping was annoying to him.**

"**Pull yourself together. Van!" he nearly shouted to himself. But if he did, Fanelia would get the news that they had the weirdest king in all of its history.**

**He looked at the Guymelef. Escaflowne's been left here 'sleeping' for about eight years. He knew that his brother said that his dream was a world without war, without having to depend on Escaflowne. But Gaea needed it now, to stop the war. It seems like the right time to bring it back.**

**And it's also been eight years since he's last seen Hitomi. **

**He took off the necklace Hitomi gave him. He needed to see her, he knew he did. He didn't know but did care whether his wish upon this mysterious pendant will come true, but there was nothing to be lost if he tried. He took it off and began to swing it like he was a magician trying to hypnotize someone, just like Hitomi used to do when she was dowsing. "Please, Hitomi, I need to see you!" He muttered as the pendant slowly swayed, marking every second.**

* * *

** It's all different now. It's as if Gaea faded into a distant memory…**

**_What's this? Is that a dragon?_ Hitomi thought. _It looks so familiar_… **

**In front of Hitomi was a beautiful white dragon. It cried and flapped its wings when she noticed the huge gem like thing it was holding. Hitomi was just standing there, gaping at the magnificent white dragon as if she'd just died, gone to heaven and met God. But she wasn't dead yet… she knew that. **

**From the back of the dragon came a raven haired man around her age… and there was something about his eyes that looked so familiar… He looked at her, smiled then waved to her. She realized that he knew her… and she knew him. **

**But when she noticed him jump on the dragon and begin to fly away, her heart began to sink. Her heart started to have a pain that won't go away. "Wait!" she found herself calling as she ran towards the flying dragon. "I don't want us to part again! Don't go!"**

**She clamped her hands over her mouth. _Again? What do I mean by 'again'?_**

**And to her utmost surprise, feathers began to fall from the sky. She unconsciously reached out and caught one of the snowy white feathers and looking at it, she muttered in recognition, "Van…" **

**The dream shattered into pieces then her eyes popped open. She was breathing heavily, her now- long hair unruly. _It was just a dream… _**

**But when she looked at her open palm, she was surprised to see…**

**A feather.**

**Not just any feather, His feather…**

**Van's… **

**The minute she realized it, Hitomi recalled that time she realized that he was calling her. And he was doing it again. Only this time, the feather didn't disappear. **

**How could she forget?! She said that she'd never forget each other, not even when they were old, and she forgot?! Her hand painfully clutched the blanket and tears began to fall. "Van… I'm so sorry… so sorry…"**

* * *

** She was different; she _is_ now a persistent college student of twenty -three. She tried to make her grades shoot up to the roof but it wasn't working. She supposedly spends most of her time with her nose buried in books.**

**Maybe that's because she refused to give up running, she takes up half of her time running for the college's track team and she never knew why. But now she knew.**

**She could never drop running because it's through running that she met Van. If she didn't have the guts to challenge Amano- Senpai then, or if she didn't bother to run for the track team, she wouldn't know about Gaea, met Van and all the others, even Escaflowne. **

**Now that she was older, maybe in her second or third year of college, she had long, straight brown hair, taller maybe, but she'll still be Hitomi. **

**The same Hitomi that went to Gaea, the same Hitomi who used to tell fortunes. Now after years and years, eight years? Six? Five? She seemed to have forgotten to count. The first few days after returning from Gaea felt like forever.**

**But if she went back to Gaea right now, this very minute, this very second, would Van recognize her? Or in fact, would _anyone _there recognize her? She couldn't be sure. Did Van still have her pendant?**

**All these thoughts, questions and memories swirled around her head as she wore a business like white shirt with a collar and Capri pants. It was Sunday, the day when she would usually say '_It's too early to get up' _but she needed a walk… a long walk… She needed to think, to clear her head. **

**At that hour, no one was up. The sun barely shone and she insisted on taking a walk to clear her head. It was around 5 am. She's never been awake this early. Not even Yukari, who would get up and jog to 'maintain her figure', was up yet.**

"_**Please Hitomi, I need to see you!"**_

"**Van?" Hitomi exclaimed and looked all around her. "Van, Where are you?"**

**She walked a bit more and called again. "Van! Where're you?"**

**So she kept walking… and walking until her nose nearly touched a metal fence wire. "This is… the track field!" She exclaimed as she looked at the old field. "Van might be here!"**

**She walked through it, savoring the memory. But Van wasn't there. So where had the voice come from? She might have imagined it… she misses him too much.**

**As she walked, she stopped by a certain spot. "This is the spot Van appeared on!" She exclaimed as she remembered Van suddenly appearing, well armed with a sword in his hand, a sort of surprised look on his face. She even remembered running right through him the first time, which must have been just a vision, and bumping into him the second time. She looked back to see the end of the track lines. **

**She wanted to run, just like that day.**

**Hitomi walked over to that spot, got into the position of a runner and began to run, despite no one to watch or record her performance, she still ran just as well as that fateful day.**

**As she ran, as she turned towards that same spot, a blue light came from the sky and engulfed her. It was there to take her to the place she wanted to go. To Gaea…**

* * *

** This is my first chapter of my first story, so please review!!!  
**


	2. Remember

**I was a bit impatient, so I decided to post Chapter two already. I had fun writing this. I hope you enjoy it too!**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Remember**

**Hitomi felt herself lying on a patch of grass. How did she get here? A breeze blew, she knew she was still outdoors. Did she faint? All she remembered was a blue light engulfing her and a lady who seemed to have long brown hair like hers tied into braided pigtails and wearing a kimono reaching out to her and saying, "Come Hitomi, Van is calling for you."**

"**Van is what? Calling for me?" she recalled repeating and at the same time, reaching for the lady. At that moment, she remembered who that lady was. "Oba-chan…" (grandmother)**

**She opened her eyes and found herself looking into the eyes of someone she knew very well. She sat up in joy and recognition. "Millerna!" she exclaimed. **

**Millerna, her eyes and her golden hair still the same as always, only her hair seemed longer, cocked her head. "Do I know you?"**

"**It's me, Hitomi Kanzaki! Don't you remember?! The girl from the Mystic Moon?" Hitomi said. I'm back in Gaea! She thought with joy.**

**Millerna gasped. "Hitomi? Is that really you? You look so different now! It's so good to see you again after all these years!" she said. But soon after saying that, her smile faded. "But you chose the wrong time to come back."**

"**Why is that?" Hitomi asked in confusion.**

"**We believe that the lost city of Atlantis has resurfaced. One day, some strange men started to come from the Mystic Valley and started a colony. Their colony grew until they began to attack! Fanelia is one of their main targets we presume, but nothing has happened yet to them," Millerna said wearily.**

**_Van got Fanelia back to its feet again! I'm so glad! But as for the attacks… that's nothing to smile about._ Hitomi thought. "How's Van?" she asked.**

"**He's a bit stressed as the king of Fanelia, but he's fine, he's healthy."**

"**That's good enough for me," Hitomi said in relief. She didn't exactly need to see him, she just needed to know he's alright.**

"**We should head for the castle before it gets really late," Millerna said, helping Hitomi stand up.**

"**In Asturia?" Hitomi asked as she stood up upright.**

**Millerna flashed a cheeky smile. "The Castle in Fanelia."**

"**Oh My Gosh!" Hitomi exclaimed, nearly falling even if she's just stood up. "But I thought you said Van is stressed, we shouldn't bother him now!"**

"**Please, Hitomi. Didn't you know Van must miss you so much? You should go see him. It might take away some troubles from him. I'm sure you'll be able to do that!" Millerna said as she grabbed Hatomi's hand.**

* * *

**The ride over reminded her of when she first arrived at Gaea. Only now, she was sitting right across Millerna instead of Van. And Millerna, who for some strange reason, was grinning from ear to ear. **

**As for Hitomi, she was looking around the new Fanelia. She barely got a good look at the old Fanelia, but she thought that the new Fanelia was every bit like the old, or even better! She couldn't really tell.**

"**This place has changed, hasn't it?" Millerna said, watching Hitomi looking around the place in awe.**

"**I don't really know… but this place is really different from any place on Earth… I mean the Mystic Moon."**

"**After you left, Van really put most of his time for Fanelia," she said. "He claims it's for his late brother, Folken."**

**_Oh yeah, Folken. _Hitomi remembered how he confronted Dornkirk and died there… **

**_I don't have much long to live anyways… all the experiments have shortened my life. These wings are proof. _she remembered him saying when she warned him about her vision on how he was going to die, with the sword shard that pierced right through his heart.**

**The worst part is… like all her other visions… it came true. **

**Folken really did die before Dornkirk. And he was doomed to die whether he went to Dornkirk or not… but even if Dornkirk killed him directly…**

**He still doomed Folken through his experiments.**

**What a tongue twister! But the main part is, it was all because of Dornkirk.**

**Those thoughts made her heart ache. It was so sad… It would have been really nice to see how much Folken would have changed if he was still alive now, or how much he would have helped Van. **

"**Look, Hitomi! There's the castle!" Millerna said in excitement, pointing to the beautiful castle up ahead and breaking Hitomi's thoughts. **

**Hitomi's jaw nearly dropped. "That's the castle of Fanelia?" _I can't believe Van actually lives in that! It's as beautiful as the rest of Fanelia! _**

**Hitomi hopped off, still looking at the castle in awe, unaware that her mouth was open. Then Millerna gave her a playful push. "Go, Hitomi!"**

"**But Millerna, aren't you going with me?" Hitomi asked. **

**Millerna shook her head. "Van wants to see you, not me. I'm always here, he can just go over to my place, which he never does, and say hello. But you, Hitomi? You're a girl from the Mystic Moon! To Van, this could be a once in a lifetime chance! I don't want to be there to spoil it all for him. Go!"**

**Hitomi took a deep breath and headed for the castle gates.**

* * *

**_What the heck is all that racket about? _Van thought to himself as he sat under a tree, a sword beside him. He was really tired. He just finished practicing his sword and he was sweating a lot. He was about to fall asleep when he heard noises, a lot of noises. It worked like an alarm that woke him up in an instant. It sounded like laughter, so no attack. He sighed. He couldn't believe that it was so loud that he could hear it from here.**

**Yet he forced himself to get up, walk across the plant filled garden full of blooming nature and through the well furnished rooms and through the hallways, just to hear what the heck those guards were talking, or more like laughing, about. _Van,_ he told himself._ Your curiosity will be death of you someday. _**

**As he walked, he overheard a guard telling another guard the situation. "What's happening?"**

"**Well, outside, there's a girl asking to see the king," he said. _Nothing weird about that, _he thought, nearly turning back to head for the garden, maybe pick up his sword and practice again, fall asleep or just do nothing.**

"**What's so funny about that?" the other guard asked. "I hear laughter."**

"**Well, the girl claims that she's from the Mystic Moon."**

**Van stopped. She's from the Mystic Moon? Is it Hitomi? Did his wish to see Hitomi come true? He decided to listen some more. He cautiously leaned against the wall where he could hear their conversation clearly.**

"**Come on, there hasn't been a person from the Mystic moon for ages!" He said, an amused tone in his voice.**

"**But she keeps insisting that she's been here before, she's here because she believes the king called for her so she needs to see him and she isn't playing a joke and told us to ask the king himself, which I'm going to do."**

"**Is that why are they still arguing with her? It sounds pretty ridiculous to me. We usually don't bother the king with those matters."**

"**We can't send her away because she showed us a feather of a Draconian that may be the king's. She said she woke up from a dream to find the feather she caught in that dream in her hand. They all burst out laughing. But she's so stubborn! She refuses to leave. She won't leave without a word from the king himself."**

**That sentence struck him. A dream? A feather? _My _feather? He came from his space and asked, revealing that he was shamelessly eavesdropping. "Where is she?"**

**That startled the guards. "Oh, your Majesty. she's outside…"**

**Before the guard could say anything else, Van rushed outside to see a young woman with long brown hair and green eyes arguing with the guards. "I'm trying to tell you… Oh!" she tapped her foot on the ground in annoyance, her cheeks reddening for the same reason. "I tried to tell Millerna that this would never work! Today, no one seems to be listening to me! Maybe Yukari was right about my faulty powers of persuasion…"**

**_Millerna? What's she got to do with this? _He thought.**

**He saw her look back. "Oh Man, now it looks as if she's deserted me! I'll never reach Van at this rate!" She was clutching something white… "Okay, I'll have to try one more time…" **

**It was her. He started to smile. "Hitomi? Is that you?" he called, hoping that the answer to that question was 'yes' and not 'who are you talking about?'. **

**The girl who he was confident was Hitomi looked back. Her eyes began to twinkle and a smile back on her lips. "Van!"**

**The guards, startled, immediately turned around. "Is she a friend of yours, your Majesty?"**

**Van nodded his head. "Yeah, she is."**

**Hitomi, being Hitomi, didn't plan on anything that she might say to Van when she sees him again. So she had to wait for Van to say something. "Come on inside! What're you waiting for?"**

"**Oh! Coming!" Hitomi said, running in after him.  
**

* * *

**Reviews?**


	3. I came here for a reason

**If you want my personal opinion on this chapter I posted, it's actually kind of boring, but if I don't write this, the story won't go on. So I added some of what was supposed to be part of chapter four to this chapter. It makes it a bit more exciting.  
**

* * *

**Chapter Three: I came here for a reason**

**Hitomi was able to catch up with Van. Looking at him, she giggled and said, "You haven't changed a bit!" He was just taller and a bit more mature looking than before, and he obviously had to change his outfit. His shirt now wasn't red, it was blue. And the pink pendant still hung from his neck.**

"**So what happened when you got here?" he asked.**

"**You mean before the guards?"**

"**Yeah, before the guards."**

"**Well, I ended up in Millerna's garden. She brought me here and _left_ me here to argue with the guards." she said, putting a sarcastic tone on the word 'left'. **

**Before Van could say another word, a 'cat girl', who seemed to be around twenty or twenty one, came running from one of the rooms. "Lord Van!" she cried and ran to him and gave him a hug. "Whoa!" Van exclaimed, nearly falling but was successful in balancing himself. He was getting used to it already, considering that it happens to him nearly everyday.**

**Noticing Hitomi, who was staring at her, minutes later, she asked, "Who is _she_?"**

**Hitomi, recognizing the annoying tone of voice, said, "Merle?" She changed too, a lot. Before she was just an annoying little kid. Now she seemed much more mature than she was before. But her habits still haven't changed. **

"**This is Hitomi, remember her?" Van asked as he stood up properly.**

"**Hitomi?!" she asked. "When did you come back?"**

"**Just today," Hitomi said. I can see that she still doesn't like me that much. "It's nice to see you too, Merle." **

"**Hmph," Merle said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess you're here because of the Atlanta."**

"**Atlanta?" Hitomi repeated. "Isn't it Atlantis?"**

**Merle didn't say anything, instead, she just began to walk back into the room. **

"**Asturia is asking for help, Lord Van. I came to tell you that Allen and Celena Schezar want to see you. They're waiting in the dining hall." Then she left.**

"'**The Atlanta' is a group of people who were said to be the lost people of Atlantis. They just came out of the Mystic Valley, made a colony, then began attacking," Van explained. "I guess Asturia is having problems."**

"**Does that mean that Asturia is being attacked?"**

"**How do I know? I'm not psychic. Maybe if you tag along, you might find out," Van coolly said and headed for where Allen and Celena were waiting. **

"**Ohhh, your personality hasn't changed either," Hitomi said in an annoyed tone, running after him. "That Van, he never waits for me!" She could hardly believe that he called her and actually wanted her here or even missed her at all!**

**But the recollection of her pendant still being around his neck and the probability that he hasn't removed it since he's put in on eight years ago told her that he did want her here, he did miss her and that she should believe that.**

**The thought made her scowl turn into a smile.**

* * *

**Sitting near the wooden table in the big room was Allen. His blond hair was still long, he was still as good looking as he was eight years ago and Hitomi knew if she wanted to see what's changed with him, she'd have to observe him for a long time. **

**Sitting beside her older brother was Celena, formerly known as Dilandau but changed back into Celena eight years ago. Her wavy gray- blond hair was longer now, left loose to cascade down her shoulders, and she seemed to act like she didn't loose most of her childhood. In Celena was where she could see the most change. She now acted as if she wasn't a little kid who was curious about the world.**

**Celena was the first to notice Hitomi. She politely stood up and bowed. "Nice to make your acquaintance."**

**Hitomi nearly panicked. She decided to just mimic Celena. Making a hasty and awkward bow, she said the first thing that came into her head, "Ah… You too." _I hate acting polite… _**

**Allen looked from Hitomi, to Celena then to Van. "What happened, Van? Did you get married without us knowing?" he teased.**

"**M-married!?" Both at them nearly staggered at the same time. Van even stood up as he said it, slamming his hands down on the table.**

"**Sounds like a good reason to what's happening," Allen said, an amused smile across his face. Celena also giggled. **

"**Allen!" Van said, or more like shouted.**

"**Okay… I was just kidding… then who is she?" Allen asked, still smirking. **

**_He seems happier. He isn't alone anymore so he can smile truthfully and laugh_, Hitomi thought. "It's me, Allen! Don't you remember? Hitomi Kanzaki!!"**

**She didn't know if she needed to mention her last name, but better safe than sorry. She didn't even know if she told Allen her last name. She doesn't quite remember…**

**Allen looked at Van, who seemed to have sat down again. "That's really Hitomi?"**

**Van nodded his head. "Yup." then he looked at Hitomi. "Why don't you take a seat?"**

**Hitomi shook her head to remove the blush from her cheeks. She walked over, pulled out a seat and nearly sank into it. She just came from sitting down, even if she did have to put up with a bunch of guards that wouldn't believe her, that encounter with Merle and now this thing with Allen. _What a day_, she thought. **

"**So Allen, what's the news?" Van asked.**

"**We've been receiving threats, Van. They said that if we don't give them our full support, instead of 'sparing' us, they're going to destroy Asturia worst than what Zaibach did."**

**Hitomi glanced at Celena at the reaction towards the name 'Zaibach', but she was just mindlessly listening to the conversation between Van and Allen, maybe not even listening, but letting her mind wander elsewhere.**

"**Why would they want Asturia's support if they can tear it down as badly as they claim they can?" Van asked.**

"**I believe," Allen said. "It's so that they can take down Fanelia. That's why we came over, Van. I was hoping that you can do something about it. Because we may have to prepare to go into battle."**

* * *

**Hitomi nervously watched as Van placed the energist into what she could call 'the heart' of Escaflowne. "Van…" she muttered.**

"**Okay, Hitomi, I'm going to Asturia…" Van began but was cut off by Hitomi who grasped his arm tightly. "Just wait, Van, you're going to fight with Asturia alone, aren't you?"**

"**What do you mean by---- of course I am!" Van said.**

"**I'm going with you, Van!" Hitomi announced. "You're _not_ going alone!"**

"**You can't go! This is a war, you could get killed there."**

**Hitomi looked at him . Tears were in her eyes. "Not if I don't die of worry first staying here! Remember, Van! I'm here for you! I came here to help you and support you, not for you to push aside!"**

**Van was speechless. It was like that time when he ended up on earth fighting the dragon and when he first met Hitomi. _"I got worried, so worried…"_**

**Hitomi breathed in then breathed out, tired from her sudden outburst. She dropped to her knees and began to cry. She was so confused… and she didn't know why. She began to think that she was just a burden to Van, that's why he doesn't want her to come. Van knelt near her. "Hitomi…"**

"**Van, I'm sorry…" Hitomi muttered. **

"**Look, Hitomi. You're not a burden; I just didn't want you to be caught up in all this mess. These messes with the Atlanta and Atlantis… but you're not a burden, I called you here. But I need to go to Asturia, I need to do this."**

**Van then stood up and silently walked over to the Escaflowne, getting on. "Van!" Hitomi gasped as she saw the Escaflowne close up with Van inside. **

**The Escaflowne then changed onto a dragon… like in the one in her dreams. It slowly began to hover off the ground.**

**She felt the same way she had in her dream. She tried to open her mouth and say something, but she couldn't. **

"**Hitomi! Take my hand!" she heard. She looked up and saw Van looking down at her, his hand outstretched. Hitomi dried her tears. "Right!" she said and took his hand and Van pulled her up. **

"**I hope you haven't forgotten how to pilot Escaflowne!" Hitomi said when she remembered that it's been sleeping for about eight years and that Van hasn't touched it for eight years either.**

"**And I hope you haven't forgotten how to hold on, because I am going to fly Escaflowne faster than you have ever experienced," Van countered with a smile.**


	4. Freid taken over?

**Hi, it's me again with Chapter Four on post! Can you imagine Prince Chid 8 years later? His age was never mentioned, so I'll save that for the next chapter. I'll have to find some way to imagine him eight years later… Anyways, in this chapter, there's meaningless fights, threatening letters and advice straight from a movie or something all in one! Yeah, I know, my friends call me weird too. **

**Chapter Four: Freid taken over?**

**Hitomi felt Escaflowne land. She did remember to hold on, but she felt that her head got lost along the way. "Here we are, Asturia," Van announced, breaking her thoughts. Hitomi stared at the castle. It was Millerna's castle. **

**He hopped off the white dragon. Then he offered a helping hand. "Coming?"**

**Hitomi accepted the help and jumped down. "Of Course! I told you that you're not going anywhere without me!"**

**As they were going in, the guards stopped them. Hitomi didn't really want to listen to what Van was telling them since she still hates having to argue with castle guards. She takes it from personal experience. _Not this again_, she thought "I'm here to help the king with the war," was all Hitomi caught as she heard Van speak to the guard. She was actually planning on shutting her ears, but her damn sense of hearing caught something.**

**The guard immediately stepped aside and opened the gate. _Well, that's over, _Hitomi thought, even if she didn't do anything. They walked into the castle that seemed new as well. But this time, Hitomi's jaw didn't drop. And there, Millerna was already there to greet them.**

"**Oh! So you came!" she said, smiling again.**

"**Oh, Millerna! You practically deserted me back in Fanelia!"**

"**I did not! I told you that you should go in by yourself didn't I?" Millerna said. **

"**But you could have at least stayed until I actually got _in_ to the castle!" Hitomi said back.**

**As the two fought over misunderstandings of the past, a really silly argument actually, then Eries came in to the same room. "Oh, you came," she said, saying nearly the exact words Millerna said a little while ago, but with a lot less enthusiasm. Turning to her younger sister, she asked, "Millerna, why didn't you…"**

**But Millerna was too busy, arguing with Hitomi, in what I already called a very silly argument. Without much reaction, she turned to Van. "Well, would you like to go on ahead and see Dryden? Considering that you're just standing there… doing nothing."**

**Van, who was standing around with absolutely nothing to do, like Eries had said, replied, "Sure."**

* * *

"**Well, you got to the castle to see Van, isn't that what mattered?" Millerna asked, starting to end the ever silly argument.**

"**Speaking of which, where is he?" Hitomi asked, looking around, obviously ending the silly argument for good. **

"**My sister must have taken him in to see Dryden," Millerna inferred. "… I know!" she exclaimed with a little excited clap. "Why don't we go to my room while we're waiting?" **

"**Hey…!" Hitomi started to say, but Millerna grabbed her wrist and started to lead her to a flight of stairs. _Oh man, I had climbing stairs, _she complained to herself, as if she doesn't have to climb stairs every time she comes back to her apartment and has climb the stairs reach her room and throw herself on bed because the sofa her mom helped her buy had this weird stench on it and she refused to sit on it unless she found some way to get rid of the weird smell. "Hey, Millerna, what exactly _are_ we going to do in your room?"**

**Millerna stopped. "I haven't thought about that yet, but it beats going to a meeting." _I didn't notice it, but she seemed to have changed as well. Maybe she seems more carefree because she finally let Allen out of her heart? I can't really tell. _**

**Eries who always seems to be there to remind Millerna at what she needs to do, said, "Oh, Millerna? You're with Hitomi, right? Since she may be staying here for quite a while, why don't you show her to one of the guest rooms?"**

"**Oh yeah! I'd forgotten that you'll be staying here for a while. But anyways, we'll still need to upstairs. Let's go," Millerna said, starting to climb the flight of stairs that still seemed endless to Hitomi.**

* * *

"**Van! It's nice of you to come!" Dryden said, standing up from his seat. On his right side was Allen, who also stood up. But this time, Celena wasn't there. _And I thought that those two were inseparable_, Van thought. _And I also thought the same thing about Hitomi and me… and we haven't seen each other for eight years.  
_**

"**Would I desert an ally?" Van asked. "So what's the topic of the day?"**

"**Atlanta," Allen replied. Then he gestured to a seat. "Please sit down."**

**Van walked over to a seat and Dryden sat down, Van and Allen followed. "Well, just like Allen told you, we've been receiving threats. I said before, I'm nothing but a mere merchant, but both our options lead to war. And pairing with the enemy is not my thing."**

"**How did you receive these threats?" Van asked.**

**Allen pushed a crisp parchment to Van. "The usual way, through letters."**

**Van's eyes skimmed through the paper. It wrote everything that Allen said earlier. It's either Asturia swear allegiance to the Atlanta or they'll destroy it worst than Zaibach did. "Well, I can tell that they are well aware of that war against Zaibach eight years ago."**

"**That means that the Atlanta has someone originally from Gaea giving them information," Dryden inferred.**

"**But who could it be?" Allen asked.**

"**I don't know," Van replied. "When do you think they're going to attack?"**

"**No idea. We have to be ready at all cost," Allen said.**

**Suddenly, a soldier burst into the room, "Your Majesty! There is another letter!"**

**The well armed solder handed over the letter, his face pale. Dryden, on the other hand, casually unfolded the paper and looked at the letter.**

"**This is bad news," Dryden said. "Freid has been taken over."**

"**What happened?" Allen asked.**

"**They weren't aware of the Atlanta. They completely surrendered to the Atlanta, but Prince Chid was able to escape. He's going to come over to Asturia. He's going into hiding," Dryden informed them.**

"**That means," Allen said. "We have to not only fight for Asturia, but for Freid as well."**

**"Yup, 'Fraid so," Dryden replied**

* * *

**Millerna opened the door to a well furnished room. The doors to the balcony of the room were wide open and the curtains flapped with the breeze. "This will be your room."**

**Hitomi entered the room. "Wow." _It looks much better than my apartment, that's for sure. _**

"**Why don't you freshen up" Millerna asked. "While waiting for the meeting to finish?"**

**Hitomi nodded her head, only taking note of her unruly long hair now. "I will."**

**The door closed and Hitomi found herself alone. She looked around the room and walked outside to the balcony. The breeze was still there. It blew as she leaned by the balcony and began thinking. **

"**Here I am, I can't believe I'm actually back in Gaea," Hitomi muttered to herself. "To think that one minute, it seems that I'm back at home and the next, I'm here."**

**There was a knock on the door. "It must be Millerna," Hitomi told herself and opened the door. **

**On the other side of it was a girl with grey yellow hair. "Oh, Celena, what brings you here?"**

"**Well, I just wanted to talk, about my brother, I mean."**

"**Oh, why, did something happen?"**

"**Well, he just seems so distant now. I don't know what's happening."**

"**Distant?" Hitomi asked, not really getting what she said.**

"**Well, for as long as I can remember, Oni- San (brother) wasn't always distant. He was always kind and had a smile ready for me every time I look at him, but now, he always seems sad, stressed. I just don't know what's going on."**

**Hitomi was about to say that 'He was like that during the Zaibach empire' but she immediately stopped herself. Celena was Dilandau during that time and doesn't remember a thing. And it's better if she never does remember what happened to her a long time ago. The experiments, her change of sex and personality, everything should be best kept away. "Celena, there's just something big going on right now. This needs Allen's full cooperation and maybe he is stressed, but he's still your brother and what he's like inside won't change." Hitomi nearly couldn't believe that she had just said all that. She just blurted out what she could think of. It was like the typical answers you'll read in several stories or watch in movies. **

**Celena smiled. "Yeah, I know you're right." _I guess to Celena, those are words good enough, even if I might have gotten it from a book or movie. _"Thanks a lot, Hitomi. I'll see you again soon." she said, bowing out of politeness.**

"**You don't need to bow in front of me, I'm not royalty."**

"**But Eries said that I must bow like a proper lady whether royalty or not," Celena informed Hitomi.**

"**Eries taught you manners?" Hitomi asked and Celena nodded her head. _Well, Eries taught Celena the manners I never learned, hehe…_**

"**I'll be seeing you soon," Celena said again and went out the door. **


	5. Believe

**Hi, Once again another chapter. I'm so bored these days that I just keep writing and writing and writing. (Even if the chapters are a wee bit short). I can now see what Prince Chid looks like eight years later, thanks to someone who wrote a review on it. Thanks!**

**I was supposed to change Chapter four, but I couldn't, there was a weird error. So I'll just write the missing parts here.**

**_As Celena left, Hitomi heard the sound of a door opening. But she knew it wasn't any ordinary door opening. "Celena, I think that the meeting's over. Why don't we ask them what happened?"_**

_**Celena looked at Hitomi, there wasn't any expression on her face first, as if she was trying to process what Hitomi just said. Then she smiled. "Okay."**_

* * *

**Chapter Five: Believe**

"**Darn, that Van," Hitomi said as she sat on a rock at the garden, swinging her legs like a child back and forth in boredom, her eyes fixed on the sky. "He wouldn't say anything about the meeting."**

"**Allen wouldn't either, must be something really bad," Celena said, kneeling down near a bunch of lavender colored flowers. **

"**Even though, I think they should at least tell us, sheesh," Hitomi said, redirecting where she was looking. **

"**Oh My, I think it's going to rain," Celena said, holding her palm up and standing up. "We should go inside.**

**Hitomi looked up to the sky again. The clouds above were dark. It was going to rain. She hopped off the rock. "Yeah, let's go in."**

**When they went inside, they were surprised to see Allen and Van in the living room talking to someone who was around thirteen. But wasn't Dryden supposed to be there too? "Who is that?" Hitomi whispered to Celena, doing exactly what Van did just a few days ago, eavesdrop by leaning on the wall.**

**Celena shrugged. She didn't know either.**

"**Then we'd better not disturb them, it must be very important," Hitomi said. **

**Celena nodded in agreement. But Hitomi couldn't help thinking that he had sad eyes. Very sad eyes, as if he lost something very precious. But then it struck her. His eyes were deep blue and his hair was golden yellow, he was like a replica of Allen. "Wait-a-minute! That's Prince Chid of Freid! What's he doing here?"**

"**Dryden said that his country's been taken over," someone said. Hitomi jumped and nearly screamed when she realized… "Oh, it's just you, Millerna."**

"**Did you expect a ghost?" Millerna asked.**

"**N-No! Of course not. Anyways, what did you say about Freid?"**

"**The Atlanta took it. Freid's been taken over. They were victims of a surprise attack."**

"**Oh My Gosh! That's horrible!" Hitomi commented. **

"**Actually," they overheard from the lush living room. "I'm not here just to go into hiding. Actually, that wasn't my intention at all. It just said so in the letter, but it isn't."**

"**What do you mean that wasn't your main intention?" Allen asked Prince Chid. **

"**I just wanted to warn you," he said. "That the Atlanta are already planning to attack Asturia soon. And when I mean soon, I mean really soon, like days from today."**

"**What's mysterious is that they knew about that thing with Zaibach eight years ago. If they really are Atlanteans, they shouldn't know about it," Van pointed out.**

"**They should know; they've got Zaibach as an ally," he said. "Zaibach is still pretty wrecked, even if eight years have passed. They can't seem to get back on their feet again. So one day, the Atlanta offered them a deal: Zaibach form alliance from them and the Atlanta will help Zaibach stand again." Then he looked up, spotting the three girls talking near the wall, he cocked his head and greeted, "Hello?"**

**Hitomi stiffened. She turned (nearly like a robot, but not quite) and just said; a nervous smile across her face. "Um, Nice to see you again."**

**Millerna just waved; a big smile across her face.**

**And Celena bowed and said, "Nice to make you acquaintance."**

"**Hi, remember us?" Hitomi asked, not seeming to care that she just repeated her greeting.**

**He smiled. "Nice to see you again, too, Hitomi." _He seemed to be fine for someone who lost his parents at such an early age… _Hitomi thought. _No, he didn't loose both his parents. _She glanced at Allen. _My mistake…_**

"**A maid will guide you to your room when you're finished," Millerna said.**

"**Thank you," he said. **

"**Come on, Hitomi! Let's go upstairs," Millerna said, getting Celena's and Hitomi's wrists.**

"**But Millerna…" Hitomi tried to protest, but Millerna whispered, "We shouldn't disturb them."**

**Hitomi nodded, knowing that that was true.**

* * *

**Hitomi woke up with a start. She could feel it. Any second now, the war would start.**

**She dreamt that she was standing in Asturia. There were Guymelefs there, fighting. But some of them were strange. Some of them were gray white in color and their weapons were strange as well. But she spotted a particular Guymelef on the field. it was Escaflowne, the Ispano Guymelef. And that only meant one thing: Van.**

"**Van!" she cried. It reminded her of the disaster eight years ago…**

**She panted. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought that it'd tear out of her chest. She knew she needed to act fast. She could sense that the war is going to start at any moment. She needed to warn someone. She didn't know who, but she needed to.**

**She hopped out of bed, smoothened out her creased shirt and ran out the door. "Oh my Gosh! Who do I tell? Who? Who?"**

"**Hitomi? Is that you?" someone said. She turned. "Oh, it's you, Chid."**

"**For a second there, I thought that you were an owl," he said with a small laugh. **

"**Oh?" she said clamping her mouth, then removing it to reveal an embarrassed smile. "I didn't know that."**

"**So, what are you doing out at this time of the night?" Chid asked.**

"**I had a vision saying that…"**

**Then suddenly the lights opened and some guards ran upstairs. "There's some Guymelefs outside! They're destroying Asturia!" **

"**At this time of night?" Prince Chid asked.**

"**We have to wake Van and the others up!" Hitomi exclaimed. _It's just like my dream… _**

**She ran into Millerna's room first. "Millerna!" she said, "The Atlanta! They're attacking! Oh, Millerna! Stop snoozing and get up!" she said, pulling on the sheets.**

"**Uh? What?" Millerna said, rubbing her eyes. "The Atlanta are what? Attacking? Oh, that's nice…"**

**Hitomi slapped her forehead. "No, it isn't nice, Millerna! Now get up! That's it, I have no choice." Hitomi said and bent near Millerna's ear. "GET UP!!!"**

**With that, Millerna woke up with a start. "Huh? What happened?"**

"**Asturia's being attacked! You have to wake up!"**

"**Oh! That's horrible! If you need to wake anyone up, go do it, I'll dress up first."**

**Hitomi nodded and ran outside. "Okay, Van's room is over there." She barged into the room. "Van! Van…?"**

**Surprisingly, Van was awake and fully dressed, looking outside the window. At the sound of Hitomi's voice, he turned. "What's wrong, Hitomi?"**

"**The Atlanta is attacking."**

"**What did you say?" he said, getting up.**

"**They're attacking!" she repeated. **

**Van immediately stood up and ran out the door. "Wait, Van!"**

**But something stopped her from stopping Van. Suddenly, her surroundings disappeared and all around her was light. Suddenly a girl appeared in front of her. "Oba-chan! Watashi-wa…" (Grandmother! I'm…)**

"**Hitomi," she said. "Believe!"**

"**Believe?!"**

"**Hai! (Yes!) Believe!"Then it faded into a distant memory.  
**

**That's right, she thought. I have to believe in Van. I know very well Van can do it, he always has, and always will. I've forgotten about that… I seemed to have forgotten how to believe. How to believe in Van, how to believe that anything is possible.**

_**Sometimes, people's feelings are strong enough to move the heavens.**_

**She smiled. "Yes, Folken," she muttered. "I know… I know…"**


	6. The Fate No One Wished For

**Hi again! I'm back and uploaded another chapter! The first part isn't very well written, I could even say it's been rushed a little, maybe because I'm not very good when I'm writing these kinds of situations. **

**Chapter Six: The Fate No One Wished For**

**Hitomi nervously sat near the window, she was hearing the war go on outside with only one word in mind: Believe. Yes, she knew very well that she has to believe in him. But somehow, she couldn't help nervously tapping her foot once in a while. **_**Oh Van, **_**she thought. **_**Please be okay!**_

**There was a fierce knock on the door. Millerna's desperate voice came through. "Hitomi! Hitomi! We need to escape immediately!" **

"**Escape?" Hitomi repeated. "Why?"**

"**We need to, the Guymelefs of the Atlanta are heading for the castle, and we barely have anytime!" Millerna said.**

**Hitomi stood up and ran outside. "Where to?" she asked. **

"**Don't stall!" Millerna said, grabbing Hitomi's wrist and began to run. As they passed the windows, Hitomi could clearly see many Guymelefs fighting each other. Then she saw one of the Guymelefs point right where they were standing. "Watch out!" Hitomi said and pushed Millerna away.**

"**Hitomi! What are you…" But she couldn't say any more because the area where they were running on exploded. "Hitomi!"**

**Suddenly, Hitomi seemed to have come from the flames, her hand on her right arm and she was weakly limping. **

"**Hitomi!" Millerna said and caught her just before Hitomi collapsed. "I'm fine really, let's just go to the ship before another attack lands on us. I can still run. I was able to get out just before it exploded. I'm not in the track team for nothing!"**

"**Oh, thank Goodness!" Millerna said. "Are you sure you can stand?"**

"**I can't just stand. I can run as well."**

**With luck, they were able to reach where the flying ship was located**

"**Here she is," Millerna said as they entered the flying ship.**

"**Good!" the captain said. "Now we can take off!"**

**Hitomi looked all around the ship. "Where's Van? Isn't he coming too?" She seriously felt like a kid who was asking if her big brother was going somewhere too or not, even if she knew that wasn't so.**

"**I think Allen is trying to get him to come, but it seems as if he doesn't want to."**

**Hitomi ran over to the window and looked down on the war below. She could see Escaflowne. She could not only see Escaflowne, but she could also feel that Van was struggling to fight, even if he was already weak. She banged her fist on the window. "Van!"**

"**Hitomi!" Millerna said. "What are you doing!?"**

"**Van's going to die out there if we don't do something! If only… if only my voice could reach him, just like his reached me when I was still on Earth! Van!" **

"**Oh, Hitomi…" Millerna said then Celena walked past her, a solemn look on her face. "Celena…"**

**Celena reached out and took Hitomi's clasped hands in her own. "Hitomi, I know how you feel, I, too, can feel their struggle. And I also wish that Allen will be safe from any danger. We just need to work together, and I guarantee that our voices will reach them."**

**Hitomi nodded. She knew Celena was right.**

_**Van! Come back alive!!**_

* * *

"**So you're telling me to run?!" Van said. **

"**We have to, Van," Allen said. "At least you have to go! You're the king of Fanelia! You have to go!" **

"**I don't want to run! I'm going to fight, no matter what!"**

"**They're too much for us! We have to go!" Allen said. "Besides, look at you! You may never make it out of this war alive!"**

"**Allen, it is our duty! We have to stay here!" Van said as he plunged his sword into another Guymelef.**

**Allen fought off another Guymelef. "Don't you care, Van? There's a country that needs you and all the people in it! And it's not only a country that needs you, what about Hitomi? She's waiting for you!"**

"**But we can't run in the middle of a fight, Allen!"**

"**Look at you! You're in a bad shape. You may not make it through this battle!"**

"_**Van!" **_**Van recognized the voice immediately. "Hitomi?"**

"_**Van! Come back alive!"**_

"**Hitomi?" He said. He saw Hitomi in front of him, still wounded from the explosion she got caught up in. "What happened to you? Who…" **

"**Van!" Allen warned. "Behind you!"**

**Van snapped out of his trance and turned just in time to plunge his sword into the Guymelef and it fell to the ground, blood coming from it. "Don't worry, Hitomi, I'll surely come back alive!" he announced.**

* * *

**Millerna fell to the ground. "Asturia's been taken over… we failed our people…" she was crying.**

"**Van…" Hitomi said. Just in the nick of time, they were able to pull in Allen and Escaflowne into the ship. Van and Allen were still able to stand, but Van so far isn't in the best condition.**

**Van forced a smile. "See?" he said in a weak voice. "I came back alive."**

**Hitomi smiled. "Thank God."**

"**We have to go to Fanelia, who knows what will happen," Allen suddenly said. "As they said, they destroyed Asturia."**

**Hitomi shook her head. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"**

"**It wasn't, but this was a fate that no one wished for," Chid said. "No one would wish for a fate like this!"**

"**Only the Atlanta would," Allen said.**

**Hitomi walked to the clear part of the ship and looked out. "But why is this happening? Why is there so much war when Gaea already went through all that eight years ago?!"**

_**Because this is their fate.**_

"**What?" Hitomi said. **_**Who are you? **_**The voice was male and no one that she knew.**

_**If fate cannot get Gaea once, then it will try again.**_

"**There is no such thing as predetermined fate!" Hitomi exclaimed.**

_**I can not agree with you, for we always follow the will of fate.**_

"**Fatalists," Hitomi said.**

_**Indeed**_

**Suddenly a pillar of light came from the sky. "How is this possible? Don't tell me that I'm going back to Earth!?" **_**Am I going back? No way! I can't go back! **_

**She found herself hovering. She was going to leave. "No!"**

**The door flew open. "Hitomi!"**

"**Van!" she tried to reach for him, in hopes that she would not need to go back when she was not ready to.**

**But no matter how hard they tried, the distance was already too far. **

"**I'm not going to let this happen again!" Van exclaimed in frustration. "There's only one way..."  
**

* * *

**Hitomi's eyes slowly opened to a blinding light. "Where am I? Am I still in Gaea?" Hitomi groggily sat up to see in front of her eyes… her room. "I'm back on earth... Back to the day I left…"**

**Hitomi glanced to the floor to see numerous feathers scattered on the floor. "Feathers? What are feathers doing here?"**

**Hitomi shook her head. "I'm imagining things…" But she knew very well that wasn't so when she looked at the other side of the bed to see…**

"**Van!" she hopped out of bed and ran to him and knelt near him. Van was crumpled on the floor, unconscious, his wings still spread out. "Van!" Hitomi called and nudged him in hopes that he would wake up.**

**To Hitomi's relief, Van's eyes flicked open and he groggily sat up. "Where… are we?" **

"**We're on Ear… I mean the Mystic Moon." **_**How come I could never get used to saying 'Mystic Moon' instead of Earth when talking to a Gaean?**_

"**This is the Mystic Moon?" he asked, looking around Hitomi's room.**

**Hitomi nodded. "Van, you shouldn't have come here! You're still hurt…"**

"**I guess I wasn't thinking…" Van said. "I did the first and only thing I could do, follow you."**

"**Do you want anything to drink?"**

**He shook his head. "No thanks, I'm fine."**

**Hitomi looked outside. **_**Maybe I'm still dreaming…**_** she thought. "Imagine coming to the Mystic Moon at a time like this…"**

**Van didn't say anything, he was too busy looking around. **_**Oh God, what am I going to do? We have to find a way to get back to Gaea…**_

* * *

**Please make a review! **


	7. I don't want us to be apart

**Hi! It's me again, the Angel who can't fly, with another chapter.**

**First, since this is already my 7****th**** chapter in my 1****st**** story (EE! Time to celebrate!)(That was an exaggeration), I want to thank all of you people who reviewed (Thanks Arienhod (Thanks for your support not only for this story, but for my other one as well), sousie, Idon'tKnow and serenityrain2233 (Especially a majority of my only reviews are from you!)) for your support! Thanks!**

**I was really excited about this part. I had planned that this would happen long before I posted the third chapter and finally found a place to put it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it out! Sorry it's kind of short, though…**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: I don't want us to be apart…**

"**Van, are you sure you should be standing up?" Hitomi asked as Van struggled to stand up. "I can't stay on the floor forever," he said, retracting the pair of snowy white wings that were still at his back.**

_**He has a point there… **_**Hitomi thought and stood up as well when she heard the melodious sound of the doorbell (melodious?)**

"**That must be the door, I'll be right back," she said, going outside to open the door to find a redhead on the otherside of the door. "Oh, Yukari! And Amano- Senpai! What brings you to my doorstep so early in the morning?"**

"**We were thinking of a double date, Hitomi!" Yukari said; a really excited expression on her face. **

"**Double date? With who?" Hitomi asked.**

"**Why, Me and Amano, You and Tetsu Ogawa!" She said.**

**Hitomi just stared at her. Tetsu Ogawa was a boy from her class who was one of the best basketball players in the team; had good grades and was someone who Yukari would mark under just simply **_**dreamy. **_**But Hitomi didn't seem to think so. When they were in their first year of college, apparently, Tetsu tried to kiss her. And Hitomi nearly gave in. But when their lips were only centimeters apart, she had a feeling that she was betraying someone, pushed away Tetsu in guilt and ran as fast as she possible could. Tears already flowing down her cheek. It was as if before she could actually kiss Tetsu, she remembered a time she kissed someone and she remembered the look on a certain person's face… and she just broke down, she couldn't take it. She screamed "No!" and pushed him off. **

**Hitomi shook her head. "But why not?" Yukari asked, disappointed. **

"**Sorry, Yukari, I'm busy," she said. "Maybe next time."**

"**Okay then, Tetsu will be really disappointed." She turned, took Amano's hand and walked away. Hitomi closed the door. She knew that that was meant to make her feel guilty, but she didn't. She just didn't feel anything for Tetsu.**

**She sighed. She was actually relieved. "Van?" Van wasn't in her room. Where did he go? She found him in the hallway, not very far from the room, staring at the painting that hung on the wall in confusion. It was as if there was a big question mark hanging on top of his head. "Van?"**

**Van cocked his head. "What the heck is this?"**

**Hitomi went over to see him looking at the painting she spent hours laughing at the minute she saw it in her apartment. Believe me; **_**no one**_** will want to have her as an art critique. **

**She clamped her hand over her mouth to suppress a laugh. Then Van looked at her. "Hitomi? Is there something wrong?" She shook her head, took his hand and pulled him away from the picture. Then she shook her head and breathed in and out. "Sorry, no, nothing's wrong. It's just my mom hung that picture on the wall and… never mind."**

**He was still looking at her, a half-confused, half-concerned expression across his face. "Um… why don't we go out?"**

**He nodded. "Sure."**

* * *

"**Take this…" she explained. "And pull." The door to the car opened. **

**How Van acted now felt like when she first arrived in Gaea, and when she returned to Gaea. And now here was Van, frazzled and confused as he looked at the strange horseless carriage that was parked near the sidewalk!**

**But moments later, when they were already in the car, his expression of awe turned into a strange, emotionless expression. He was looking at the outside with a solemn look. "Van? Are you alright?"**

"**Hitomi," he said. "I'm sorry."**

**I was startled and a little alarmed. "Sorry? For what?"**

**That was all he did. Suddenly, the car door flew open and he jumped off to the sidewalk before I could stop the car.  
**

"**Van!" He struggled to stand up and began to run.**

**I stopped the car and without a second more to loose, ran after him. "Wait!"**

**He had run to the tracking field. He was standing in the middle of it as he lifted the pink pendant. Hitomi knew what he was going to do. "No, Van…" Hitomi was ready to run over to him, throw his arms around him and finally say how much he actually means to her. "Don't Hitomi!" he said. "I finally realized something here, Hitomi! I finally realized that you still have a life here, people who care about you and no matter how I wish, it isn't going to change!"**

**Wings sprouted from his back. "Goodbye, Hitomi." He said. He was crying silent tears as he said "Show me the road to Gaea!"**

**At that moment, a pillar of light came from the sky; ready to lead the Fanelian King home.**

"**Wait Van!" she cried as she tried to run over to him in hopes of being able to catch him, but she was stopped.**

**She turned. "Tetsu!"**

"**Yukari told me you were busy, so why …?"**

"**Tetsu! Let go of me!" Hitomi desperately cried.**

"**Not until I get an explanation."**

**She looked back to find Van… gone.**

**Hitomi fell to her knees. She picked up one of the scattered snow white feathers and held it close to her. Tears kept falling, it wouldn't stop." She kept shaking her head. "Van… why?"**

_**Please forgive my son, Hitomi, he's only doing what he thinks is best for you."**_

"**Who's that? That sounded like… Van's mother…"**

"**Kanzaki! Kanzaki!" it was Tetsu. "Kanzaki! What happened?" She knew that he was concerned for her. She stood up, clutching the feather she thought that she'd never ever let go."**

"**Tetsu, I'm sorry," Hitomi said. "I know that before, you said that you loved me…"**

"**I still do, Kanzaki," he said.**

"**But, Tetsu, I'm sorry for not…" she was interrupted because she chocked of her tears. "I'm sorry for not telling you before that… that I love someone else… and that person is very precious to me. Tetsu, I'm sorry." she slowly walked past Tetsu, who was speechless. He didn't know what to say.**

**Hitomi walked all the way home, thinking that she didn't have the strength to drive. Her heart ached too much. Suddenly, she dried her tears and looked up at the sky. "Van, I'm sure that we'll see each other again some day, no matter how much I have to sacrifice, I swear that we'll see each other again, because I know that you're just somewhere out there."**

**The End? I think not.**

* * *

**How did you like my shortest chapter so far in this story? But I swear, this is not the ending. There's too much cool ideas in my head for this story to end. But you'll have to wait to see how Hitomi gets back to Gaea!**** Please Review! I'll really appreciate it if you told me what you thought about it. **


	8. Kidnapped

**Hi, people! It's me again, uploading once again another chapter (Finally! Chapter eight!). Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and the people reading, it makes me think that a lot of people love my story! (I just hope it's true!) **

**I love this chapter! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! **

**By the way, I know after my seventh chapter, you must really hate Van for leaving Hitomi behind, even if its 'for her own good' but that's all going to be fixed, don't worry! Just keep reading! (Thanks for pointing that out in your review, Arienhod, or I'd never ever have thought of that!) Aw, man… I talk too much… You'd better get to the story now or stick around for my jabbering...  
**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Kidnapped?!**

"**Everything is going as planned," a person said. His face was being hidden under a dark hood. **

"**Yes, but there is one obstacle in the way." Another person hiding in the shadows pointed out.**

"**What would it be?" the other asked**

"**It's the girl from Earth; she's making our plans fail."**

"**How so?"**

"**We all know that Gaea must be destroyed, which should have happened when we took over Asturia." he said. "But the girl has an effect on fate and Gaea has not yet been destroyed. We need to get her out of the picture first."**

**He stopped for a moment… then continued. "She seems to be on Earth at the moment. We need to carry out the plan."**

"**Plan?"**

**He leaned on the wall. "That's right," he said. "The plan."**

* * *

"**Hitomi? Are you okay? You've been pretty down lately, haven't you?" Yukari asked Hitomi who seems to be spacing out more and more. "I'm sorry," she said.**

**Now, all she seems to want to do is find her way back to Gaea. "I'm fine, Yukari, sorry about the other day, though."**

"**It's okay, Hitomi, you must just be feeling a bit stressed out," Yukari suggested. "Maybe you shouldn't attend classes today."**

"**I'll be fine, Yukari, thanks for worrying about me."**

**She did admit that she could barely concentrate and her attention was called many times. And when she was at home, she would just get distracted with the white feather at the side instead of doing her homework.**

**But something happened on her way home from college. Hitomi was walking through the same route that she always took to get back to her apartment when suddenly, she heard a voice. A very familiar voice. **

_**It is time… for Gaea's end.**_

**Hitomi stopped. It was that voice, the voice that she heard when she was unwillingly transported back to Earth. "Who are you? Why do you want Gaea to be destroyed?"**

_**Because that is fate**_

"**There you go again! What is it with you and fate? I told you that there is no such thing as predetermined fate! Why do you want this fate so badly? If you really from Atlantis, why do you want the world you made to be destroyed?" **

_**I'm sorry; I can not tell you that**_

**Suddenly, her head began to hurt and then**

**black out**

* * *

**Hitomi's eyes flicked open. Where am I? she asked herself. She looked around her. This isn't Earth anymore, is it? **

**Hitomi struggled to sit up. The place was dark; there was nothing but a candle burning on the small table. She had no idea where she was. There was a small window, but there was nothing outside that could give her a clue on where she was, but she had a feeling that she was in Gaea.**

**She was surprised that she wasn't gagged or bound or anything like that. That just points out that even if she screams, there would be no one to help her. **

**She dug into the bag she saw came along with her and took out her neatly tucked away deck of tarot cards. She opened the box and retrieved it and flipped up the first card just for the sake of doing so.**

**On the card was the picture of a woman holding two bowls in such a way that water poured from both of it and kneeling near what seems to be a river. And just above the woman was a bright star with many little stars surrounding it, forming a circle around it. It was card seventeen, The Star, which means hope. **

**She drew another card. There was a man and a woman walking together hand in hand, the man held the sun, the woman held the moon. It was the sixth card, The Lovers, which could possibly mean a couple that overcomes trials. **

**The cards were telling her not to loose hope. She knew somehow, Van will find out that she's been kidnapped and come and save her or maybe, she may even save herself? There's no such thing as predetermined fate, she thought. So she could make it so the ending will be happy.**

**She placed the cards back in her bag and leaned back on the wall, wondering. She wondered if she called for him her voice would reach him, like before. It's a possibility. But she did it with Celena's help, now she would have to have her voice reach him without any help.**

**She clasped her hands together. "Please Van, please hear me!"**

* * *

**As if his head wasn't hurting enough, there were already people trying to nag him, or more like lecture him. He thought lectures were the thing of the past when he reached twenty. I guess he was wrong.**

**He started to regret what he did. Maybe he shouldn't have left her on the Mystic Moon; at least he should have brought her back after the war or something. It was war and it was the time he needed her the most. Oh well… he told himself no regrets, but it wasn't working. His heart just won't listen to him anymore.**

**He shook his head. He needed to concentrate on this, he needed to be able to take control of Escaflowne just like before! The Atlanta are going to strike soon, and before long, the whole of Gaea might go! **

**But as he tried to come in contact with Escaflowne, she finally heard a voice. **_**Van! Please be able to hear me!**_

"**Hitomi?"**

_**Van? You can hear me?**_

**He leaned on the wall. "Yeah, I can. I thought that you're on the Mystic Moon…"**

_**Van, someone took me back to Gaea. I don't know where I am, but I think that it's the Atlanta… oh God, someone's coming!**_

"**Wait, Hitomi… Hitomi?!" There was nothing. He couldn't hear her anymore. The Atlanta brought Hitomi back to Gaea.**

** "Van," he told himself. "You are an idiot." He said as he stood up properly and running out the door. He could have taken Escaflowne, but he felt that there was no time. **

**Allen spotted him running out the door. "Van! Where are you going?! You can't go now…"**

"**Sorry, Allen," Van said, standing outside with a solemn look across his face. "Hitomi's in trouble. This is something I have to do!" Wings sprouted from his back and he began to fly.**

"**Hey, Van!" Allen tried to say but Millerna came up and said, "Don't Allen. Even if he left Hitomi on the Mystic Moon, he still cares for her."**

**Allen sat down again. "You're right, but if I sense that anything goes wrong, then I'll have no choice but to go."**

* * *

**Hitomi cut off her communication with Van just a few minutes ago because she heard voices. She leaned on the only door to, of course, eavesdrop. **

"**So you have the girl?"**

"**We do, sir."**

**Who's sir? She wondered. She was obviously the girl, so who is 'sir'?**

"**Good, there is more that just keeping them separate."**

"**Is that the reason you just didn't leave her on Earth?"**

**Who separate? Hitomi asked herself. Could it be Van and… wait, the didn't say 'Mystic Moon', they said 'Earth', of coarse if they're really from Atlantis, they should say 'Earth', but… but…**

**She must just be delirious, of coarse if they're from Earth, they wouldn't say 'Mystic Moon' because they know that it's called Earth, not Mystic Moon.**

**But then, she thought, if they're the people from Atlantis, who are the Draconians?**

* * *

**I told you it would be fixed! But not completely, though. you'll have to wait until I typed out chapter nine for that. That'll take a while. How they communticated was way better than talking on the phone, since in Gaea, there is no phone. Anyways, what do you think? Like I said before, I would love to know!(Big booster when I write my story! I end up looking at the reviews!) Please review !(comments, suggestions, whatever! I can take it! (I hope) P.S. No bad words though, _that_ I can not take)**

**The tarot card pictures may be different for other cards, but my brother's set is the Robin Wood tarot, so that's what I used. **

**Sorry if it's a wee bit short. I hope you liked it anyways!! ****  
**


	9. Home

**Ehehe, I have so much support! It's so nice to see that there's people who like my story so far…**

**It's a bit short, my chapters are just getting shorter and shorter. I hope you don't mind. Imagine, such a long time and this is all I could produce.**

**Okay! I talked to much on the last chapter! Let's get to the story now, I'll talk later. **

**Chapter Nine: Home**

**Hitomi sat down on the floor and curled up, her arms around her legs. She wondered if Van was coming for her or not. She felt that he would, but she couldn't be so sure.**

**It felt like yesterday, she was brought back to Gaea as she followed the dream that morning. But then, it was also yesterday that Van left her, right? And she also knew that no matter how many times she cried, nothing will change. No matter how many times she wished, she couldn't reach him. But she knew she would be able to. She knew that she loved him, and to her, that's all that mattered.  
**

**She stood up and looked out through the bared window. They were on a boat. She could see the crystal clear water of Gaea and the ripples the boat made on the vast ocean waters. **

_**Hitomi, where are you?**_

**She recognized the voice immediately. "Van! I think I'm on a boat. I don't know where it's heading, but there's water."**

_**Just wait, Hitomi, I'm coming for you!**_

**After that, she didn't hear anything from Van. She couldn't exactly imagine how he feels right now. Angry? Sad? Disappointed? What? She couldn't really point it out, because she couldn't even point out her own feelings. How can you point out anyone else's feelings when you can't even point out your own?**

* * *

**Van knew exactly where he was going. He needed to find Hitomi and she said that she was on a boat. If a boat of the Atlanta is on the water, then there's only one destination they could be heading to.**

**Where else but the Mystic Valley? They did claim that they were from Atlantis.  
**

**But the Mystic Valley was hard to get to, hard to reach. But, seriously, he couldn't care less. All he could think about was getting Hitomi back. No matter how long or how far he was going to have to fly.**

**That's when he spotted something from the corner of his eye. It was a ship. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't unusual to see a ship in the middle of an ocean, but what he saw was different. There was a blue flag on the pole and the ship was… white? **

**As far as he's concerned, he's never ever seen a white ship. Most of the ships were just brown, natural wood. That's when he figured out that this may be the ship.**

**He decided to try contacting Hitomi. "Is the ship white?" he asked.**

**There was silence at first that alarmed him when he heard her say, **_**I don't know, I can't… wait… I think it's white, I'm not very sure.**_

"**I'll go and check," he said. **_**Be careful! **_**he heard then no more.**

**He flew down to the ship when he spotted a barred window at the side. He took a peek inside. There was a dark room with a candle to light it up a little. And there wasn't anything else when he spotted Hitomi sitting down at the side. He smiled. This was it.**

**But he didn't know how to get her out. He flew away from the window. A plan… he didn't think of one. He just ran out the place and flew out. The bars were made of metal. He couldn't break into that. **

**Or maybe it would help if he waited, if he followed the ship to where ever it was going when the answer was obvious. They were headed to the Mystic Valley. **

**No, Hitomi's safety was obviously first in all this. He needed to find a way to get her out without any of those Atlanta find out. But how? The bars were made of metal… but the rest of it wasn't. It might be impossible to cut through the wood with a sword, but he'd try anything. **

**He unsheathed his sword. Here goes nothing… he thought as he pointed the tip of the sword toward the wood and with a lot of pushing, it went in. "Okay," he muttered. "Let's get this over with."**

* * *

**Hitomi sighed. Maybe Van spotted the wrong ship after all. There were no sounds coming from the outside, so she had no idea what was going on. But there was a sound that cut through the silence. She couldn't really identify the sound. Did it come from the door? No, it didn't. I came from the window…**

**Hitomi turned to the window. There was… something shiny there. She couldn't exactly identify what it was, but it made a noise like the sound she hears near a place that deals with wood.**

**Suddenly, the window fell off. There was a huge hole there and only one person could have made it. "Van!"**

**Van was there, panting, tired from cutting a hole in the thick wood (A/N: You try cutting wood with a knife and see how well you fare) "Hitomi, let's go, let's go home."**

**Hitomi knew that she didn't have a moment to spare and Van wouldn't allow her to worry about him right now. Home… she knew exactly where in Gaea Van was referring as 'home'. Hitomi stood up, ran and found herself where she always wanted to be: in Van's arms.**

* * *

"**Everyone's ready? We're already reaching the Mystic Valley, as they call it," someone said. He was like all the rest, black coat and all. **

"**Chief! The girl…" a sailor said, panting. "… she's gone!"**

"**Gone? Impossible," the person said as he hurried over to the place where Hitomi was locked up. There was no one there anymore and there was a hole in the wall. But instead of saying anything, he just chuckled. "Everything's getting exciting…"**

* * *

**Hi again! I know, I know, I took ages with this chapter. I had no idea on how Van was going to get Hitomi out, so it took a while for me to think of a way that was close to impossible. I would also appreciate it if you reviewed, I would like to know what you think about it. I'll also try my best to update faster if there's more reviews. Thank you!  
**


	10. Sealed with a Kiss

**Yes, I know. This chapter is a bit short. I told you that my chapters are mysteriously getting shorter… and shorter…**

**Sorry if I took a while with this, but I finally finished this! Here it is, chapter ten, time to celebrate!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Sealed with a Kiss**

**Van alighted on the ground. They were back in Fanelia. He stole a glance at Hitomi. She seemed to have fallen asleep. With what she's been through, she deserves the rest. The minute Van set foot on land again, he felt as if he was going to collapse. He took so much energy flying and rescuing Hitomi that he forgot to think about himself.**

**He staggered into the castle, where he was immediately noticed by Millerna, who at the minute she saw Van, she rushed over to him. "Van! You're back, what happened to you? You have Hitomi… Allen!"**

**Allen came into the room, panting as if he rushed over in a hurry. "What happened…? Van… what happened to you?"**

**Allen ran over to Millerna and Van, who had Hitomi in his arms. "Van, you're in no condition to be carrying a person! You need—"**

"**Allen," Van said weakly. "Take Hitomi, she's sleeping, she's had a long day."**

**Allen took Hitomi from his arms. "But Van, you need to rest as well." Van began to weakly walk towards the stairs. "I'll get to my room by myself, I'll be just fine."**

* * *

** Hitomi found herself on bed. She nearly couldn't remember what happened. She even forgot where she was. But in a few minutes time, she suddenly sat up, remembering everything, and exclaimed "Van!"**

**She remembered suddenly closing her eyes and immediately opening them. She didn't want to sleep then; it would cause more problems for Van if she did. But she felt her eyes slowly closing and before she knew it…**

**She lost to the sandman.**

**She immediately got out of bed and ran outside. And Celena, who was passing, turned and looked at her. Then she smiled and said, "Hitomi, you're up."**

"**Where's Van's room?" Hitomi asked.**

**Celena pointed to a room. "There, but are you sure that—"**

**It was too late, Hitomi already ran there and opened the door. "I'm sorry for…" but she stopped because she saw that Van was fast asleep. The curtains were drawn and the only light in the room was the little that came through the small spaces that the curtain didn't cover. "He's asleep, I better leave."**

**Hitomi turned around, ready to leave when she heard 'Hitomi? Is that you?'**

**She looked over her shoulder then turned around completely. Van was propped up on his elbow, his hair was messy from sleeping and his eyes were only opened halfway. And there was one more thing that Hitomi noticed. There were bandages on his arms and around his body. "Van! What happened to you?"**

"**Ah, this?" He touched the bandages. "I just have a few injuries, nothing fatal."**

"**I knew I shouldn't have fallen asleep halfway," Hitomi said.**

"**You don't need to blame yourself, it isn't your fault," Van said as he sat up.**

"**Do you need me to do anything for you?" Hitomi asked, the worried look not leaving her face.**

"**Yeah," Van said. "Just one thing."**

* * *

**Later that afternoon, Hitomi was on the balcony of the castle, looking out. The sun was about to set. **

"_**Can you meet me on the balcony by sunset? I have something to ask you."**_

**She's here already and the sun was already setting. She leaned by the railings and looked out. But immediately turned around the minute she heard the door open. "Van… is there something wrong?" His expression wasn't exactly of a happy person.**

"**We'll have to go into war soon; we have to make sure Fanelia won't be taken. But I have a question for you before I leave… for battle I mean," he said.**

"**Question?" Hitomi repeated.**

"**Hitomi, his may sound selfish of me because if you say yes you may not be able to go back to the Mystic Moon, so if the answer is no, I'll understand," Van said.**

"**What does that mean?" Hitomi asked.**

"**And I also understand if I asked this too soon, so if it'll take you a while, I don't mind either."**

**To Hitomi, Van was speaking in riddles. What did all this mean? Before Hitomi could ask anything, Van took a deep breath and asked: "Hitomi, will you be my queen?"**

**That came unexpected to her. She was speechless. But she knew what to say, what she wanted to say. "Yes, Van. I will."**

**Then before she knew it, their lips came closer and closer and finally, the space between them disappeared. That moment, their love and the possible future were sealed with a kiss.**

* * *

** Thank you everyone for your support in writing this chapter. Please review, I would like to know what you think about it. **

**And that's how kings propose, right? (points to story). I guess so...  
**


End file.
